iStock.com/Gearstd
DECLARATIONS
LIABILITY RISK
How to handle harassment What your corporate clients can do to reduce their liability risk in case of a toxic workplace…
D
espite wishful thinking, bullying or a toxic work culture can happen anywhere, and workplace harassment creates liability risk. To manage this risk, commercial clients need clear policies on harassment and violence in the workplace, as well as procedures to have complaints investigated, employment lawyers say. The high-profile resignations earlier this winter of Governor General Julie Payette and her secretary exemplify how workplace harassment allegations can be a risk management issue. Their resignations came shortly after the federal government received a report about allegations of a toxic workplace within the governor general’s office. The report has not been made public; specific allegations made in the media have not
COST OF COVID | FEB 18 Business interruption claims arising from the COVID-19 pandemic are expected to cost Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. nearly CAN$300 million, the insurer reported. Fairfax reported US$669 million in COVID-19 losses across all of its insurers in 2020. Photos: iStock.com
B Y G R E G M E C K B A C H , Associate Editor
been proven or reviewed in court. What if similar complaints are raised against one of your commercial clients? “There is all kinds of financial liability” if current or former employees allege they were bullied, harassed, or claim to be victims of violence in the workplace, says Alex Warshick, a Halifax-based lawyer with McInnes Cooper. He was commenting in general and not on the governor general’s office. “You would like to think, ‘It can’t happen or wouldn’t happen at my organization,’ but that’s just not the case,” Warshick said. “It happens everywhere. Wherever people are required to work together, these types of frictions can occur.” Financial liability may include damages awarded when employers are sued by practices, y workers over employment p
Warshick says. Liabilities can also include fines and penalties imposed by courts or human rights tribunals or by occupational health and safety tribunals. If a person sues an employer alleging they were bullied or harassed by a manager, there could be allegations of vicarious liability on the part of the employer, according to Warshick. “You want to have a digestible policy that’s clear to employees that, if they bring forward an issue or a complaint, their complaints are confidential and there will be no reprisal for bringing forward the complaint,” he says. What's needed will depend in part on which jurisdiction regulates your client as an employer. For some, it may be mandatory to have a workplace harassment and violence policy. For provin-
PREDICTING PROPERTY DAMAGE | FEB 17
When a record hail storm hit Calgary last June, many restoration contractors compiled claims estimates before the end of July. “There have been five price increases on a lot of those [estimates] since then,” an expert from Peak Services said. canadianunderwriter.ca | April 2021
17
